Closed entry socket



April 25, 1961 DU 2,981,924

CLOSED ENTRY SOCKET Filed Oct. 28. 1958 FIG. I

INVENTOR. fi ov/ey P fia ez fiajlw United p States Patent 2,9 1,924 CLOSED ENTRYSOCKET I lenryP. l)upre, Wilton, Conn., assignor to Burndy Corporation, a corporation of New York Filed Oct. as, 1958, Ser. No. 770,133

Claims. 1 Cl. 339-217 invention relates to electrical connectors of the mating pin andsockfet type and, moreparticularly, to av socket coritact' having means to 'transformthe end to' "a closed entry. l One common form of electrical connector includes ,a

,iniale or pin element 'coupled'to one conductor of the circuit and a mating socket contact' coupled'to the other contacts, the electiicalci-rcuit is completed. In the past it has been found desirable to include means in the socket fcontact whichwould apply a pressure to the contained 'pin' ciopntz'lct to ensure 'proper'electrical connection and jto jincrease theipfessure necessary to withdraw thepin act froin the socket. One common formof' socket *co act including such spring pressure'iineans comprised a oeket having a plurality of spring-likejfingers's'urrounding the pin element. For easef'of manufacture the tubular slit to, form the 'springbarrel of the socket contact likefingers. M H g In use, such a, socket contact had many disadvantages.

The foremostamong these disadvantages was the fact that this type of contactwas not'a-closed entry? In accordance with my invention; A 'Fig. 3 is an end view in conductor to. be joined. By engaging the pin and socket oth'er-iwords'," because. the spring fingers extended .along Ethetotal length. of the.contactsend;-the:barrel of the? socket could be overexpanded to accept an oversized pin, and

.thus the socket contact would bedamaged through the a use of 'an improper mating portion.

In order to overcome this disadvantage of opened contacts, unitary contacts have beendesigned in which the end first accepting the pin was closed and various other methods of providing the necessary spring pressures were utilized. Soine of these methods included the use of ads 7 2,981,924 Patented 25, 1961 removed from the panel. A closed entry adapter is .utllized to restrict the entrance of oversized pin contacts and has openings therein through which the-lock r v cross section taken along the lines 3- 3 of Fig. 2; I s p p Fig. 4 is a side view partly in crossse'ction of themoperating pin and socket contacts of myinvention mount- .ed in a supporting insulating housing; and

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of an alternate embodiment' of the closed entry adapter of my invention,

"Referring to Fig. l of the' drawing; an'exploded "view of the socket'contact assembly in accordance withthe principles of my invention is therein seen to cornpri'se a socket contact 10 and closed entry adapter 12. The socket contact 10 includes a wire receiving barrel 14 in "which the bared wire to be joined isjinsertedand an insulation grip 15. Forward of the wire ban-e114 isthe tubular connector receiving portion 16 and a tubular con- -nector receiving portion 17 ofgreater diaineterf'Ihe tubularportions 16 and '17 'have slits 18 there along I "forming a plurality of spring-like fingers'on the "barrel 35.

portion. The spring-like fingers 'surround the tiibular portion which'a'ccepts the mating pin contact. "Upstandting from1the3spring=like fingers arelockingzelements 2'2.

The'closed entry adapter comprises a mountin'gzportion 24 and a closed entry portion 28 having openings 26 therebetween. As shown in Fig. 2, the mounting portion fits overthe spring-like fingers of the socket contact 10. Opposite sides of the spring-like contacts may first v b'esawed to provide easy mounting for the closed entry ditional' s'pringielementsor a diiferentformof slitting the tubular barrel of the socket contact to provide spring I torily, they have been found expensive to'produceand fdifiicult to useh' 1 One of the objects of my invention, therefore,is' to a provide a'novel close'd entrysocket;

' Another object 'of my inventiongis to provide a novel .closedentrycontact having springfinger elements along substantially the entire lengthof the tubular barrel.

i -A turther object of myinvention'is to provide a closed "e'ntrysocket adapter to; transform 'an easily manufactured .springvfinge'red socket'contactto'aclosedentry type of socketcontact. j

Still another object of my{ invention is to -provide a closed entry socket contact structure which may be easily" 1 removed from its" associated insulatingpanel. x j a f One of the features of my invention isthe provision of-a socket contact having substantially its en'tire'barr'el slitto formspring'finger contactelements toapply pres- 7 [:sure to arnatingpin contact; Up'standin'g from;the tubu arbodyi-portion]ofgtheilsocket contact-is a plurality of locking {elements which cooperate. withshouldjers in the fingers along a length of barrel, not includingthe entrancez' vWhile these sockets have performed satisfacadapters. The locking-elements 22 of the adapter ex tend through the opening 26 as hereinafter vexplained.

In use, as shown in Fig. 4, an electrical conductor 13 has its insulation 19 stripped back and inserted in the barrel 14 which iscrimped thereto. The insulation grip 15 of thesocket contact '10is crimped about the insulation 19 in the usual manner. The socket contact 10 'and closed entry adapter 12'are inserted in the barrel of the housing 44, and during the insertion, the spring locking members 22 are depressedto pass through the r'estricted portion. After passing through the restricted therein between shoulders 38 and 39.

portion, the locking fingers 22' engage the shoulder 40 to prevent withdrawal of the socket contact and the shoulders 42 of the'housing engage shoulders of tubular pot-- tion '17-to prevent overinsertion of the socket contact, In a similar mannerla pin contact 30, having locking spring element 36, is inserted'in housing32 and locked In use, the pin- {contact 30 isjinserted past'theclosed entry of the adapter 12 into the tubular portion 16 of the socket contact 10.

The spring fingers-tightly -insulating panel to lock the socket w1th ln the panel. and

Fi i j whi-ch may be easily depr sedglsoig thatjjthe socke may v engage the pin contact making electrical and mechanical connection thereto positive.

V The closed entry adapter 12 prevents-the insertion of an over-sized pin member. 7 i r Referring to' Fig. 5 of the drawing, an alternate em bodimenfof the closed :entry adapter of my invention'is 46 in the mounting -memtherein shown to utilize a slit beta Thus the slit 4 6imay be opened,'fand,the closed entry adapter. may be; '1nounted overthe. spring-like fingersmy'invention need not have four fingers, but may; be

made with two or any other number of fingers. Preferably, the round sides of the socket contact should be flattened on opposite sides to permit the closed entry adapter to be disposed over the socket contact. To re move the contact from the panel, a tubular tool is positioned over the locking elements 22, depressing thesame and permitting withdrawal of the connector from the panel; t

I have thus described my invention, but I desire it understood that it is not confined to the particular forms or uses shown and described, the same being merely i1- lustrative, and that the invention may be carried out in other ways without departing-from the spirit'of my invention, and therefore, I claim broadly the right to employ all equivalent instrumentalities coming within the scope of the appended claims, and by means ofwhich, objects ofmy invention are attained and new results accomplished, as it is obvious that the particular embodiments herein shown and described are only some of the many that can be employed to attain these objects and accomplish these results.

I claim:

1. An electrical contactrassembly comprising a metallic contact-body including a conductor attaching portion and a body portion, said body portion including a plurality of resilient fingers having radially projecting means thereon, said fingers adapted to receivea mating contact therebetween; a closed entry adapter mounted on said contact body, said adapter including an end having an unbroken periphery and adapted to receive the mating contact, amounting end adapted to receive .said fingers, and a plurality .of openings therebetween; said spring fingers radially projecting openings. U

means extending through said ings are formed therebetween for extending the radially projecting means of said resilient fingers therethrough.

3. A contact assembly according to claim 2 wherein said adapter mounting means includes a cylindrical portion having at least two longitudinal slits therein.

4. A contact assembly according to claim 2 wherein said tubular portion includes a length having an outside diameter less than the outside diameter of the remainder of the tubular portion and said adapter is mounted on the tubular portion of less outside diameter.

5. An electrical contact assembly comprising an insulating housing having a bore therethrough, said bore including a restricted portion forming a front locking shoulder and a rear locking shoulder, a tubular contact body having a conductor attaching portion and a tubular mating contact receiving portion, said tubular portion including a plurality of resilient fingers having radially 'projecting means thereon, and at least a portion of said contact body including a section of greater outside diameter to form a rear locking shoulder, a closed entry adapter. including a cylindrical contact receiving portion, means to mount said adapter on said body and a plurality of openings in said adapter and the radially projecting means of said resilient fingers at least in part disposed therethrough to cooperate with the front locking shoulder of said insulating housing.

References Cited in the file of this patent I UNITED STATES PATENTS Watters et a1 Nov. 11, 1958 

